Funeral rite and morphology of a buried man from kurgan of Tau cemetery (Western Kazakhstan)

Introduction . The paper presents results of the funeral rite andmaterial culture studyofthe Sauromat time Tau cemetery located on the territory of Western Kazakhstan, and also provides anthropological analysis of the skull discovered there. Methodsand materials. An interdisciplinaryapproach wasappliedin the courseofthestudywith inclusion of typological, analog and cross-dating methods regarding the funeral rite and material culture examination, methods for studying craniometrical and cranioscopic signs, as well as methods of skull pathology evaluation. The source of the study material as well asthe maleskull discoverysiteisburial 1 ofkurgan 1 ofTau cemetery. Discussionand results . Thefuneral rite andclothinginventorydata confirmsthat the burial belongsto Sauromat archaeological culture and, within thechronological framework, couldbedatedback late 6th - early5th centuries BC. Furthermore, thefuneral riteandweaponryfeatures, including a quiver set with a short sword, attribute thisburial to this epoch. Historical and archaeologicalsource analysis suggests that there must havebeen a cult of the Handin the Sauromat-Sarmatian society; consequently, theseparate interment of the right handin theexamined burial reveals its militarytrophyorigin. Themale skull possesses Caucasian features with a weakened horizontal facial profile. The morphological features of the skull from the Tau cemetery have analogies in the synchronous population of Western Kazakhstan, Southern Urals and Lower Volga regions. The skull pathology analysis showed the presence of periodontitis, intravital trauma to the frontal bone, as well as some acute sinusitis signs.